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Notice:
If you are purchasing Influent for the first time, choose the language you would like to learn. If you've already purchased one language, you can buy additional languages as DLC.
The game's User Interface is currently available in English, Japanese, Russian, German, Swedish, French, Spanish, Italian, European Portuguese, and Brazilian Portuguese

February 20

Brazilian Portuguese has arrived on the scene! Existing Influent players can pick up this hot new Language Pack as DLC for $4.99 USD while newcomers can grab the base game packaged with this or any of the 14 currently available Language Packs for $9.99 USD.

NEW USER INTERFACE LANGUAGES!

In addition to this fancy new Langauge Pack, 4 brand new User Interface Languages have been added to the game as well, free of charge! These highly requested languages are as follows:

December 12, 2014

Thanks to the hard work of a few key members of the Influent community, the Portuguese Language Pack has just been released! This is the very first language pack that was recorded remotely in its entirety and marks the beginning of a more streamlined method of adding new languages to the game, allowing the developer (me) to focus more on Influent's bright future.

You can pick up a copy of the Portuguese DLC for $4.99 USD or if you don't already own Influent, why not grab the full game packaged with any of Influent's 13 Language Packs for $9.99 USD?

Or if not, why not Zoidberg?

(\/) (°,,,°) (\/)

Update 1.8

In addition to this fancy new language pack, a number of issues have been addressed as well! Thanks to everyone on the Steam forums as well as those who contacted us through the website for reporting these issues and helping solve them along the way. Beaming good karma your way!

Nicely Formatted Update Log:

Set Resolution & Controls dialog now appears by default on launch (Linux only)

Words with shared synonyms now count as correct in Time Attack (sorry)

Removed definitive articles from native translations (too confusing)

Mandarin Chinese Language Pack fixes (small pin yin tone fixes)

Italian Language Pack fixes (replaced missing audio)

Swedish Language Pack fixes (counter/sink fix)

French UI Pack fixes (overlapping text bug)

What's Next?

Three Flip Studios has been hard at work developing the future of Influent while also expanding our current language library in accordance with demand from the community. A number of new language packs are on the way with a big push toward Scandinavia.

About This Game

Andrew Cross is infuriated!

For three long years, he sat confined to his work, developing a device that he firmly believed to be a technological breakthrough in the way people would interact with the world around them. A device that could scan any object in the real world and then provide its name in any language! Duly dubbing his fancy new invention the "SanjigenJiten," Andrew arranged an appointment to demonstrate the device's amazing capabilities at the world's largest technology corporation, Technoglobe International.

But while on his visit, he fell for a girl he met in the lab, and while she stole his heart, someone else silently stepped in and stole his device! Now, Technoglobe has gone and swiftly marketed the SanjigenJiten as their own, even laying claim to the very name he had so cleverly concocted!

But Andrew Cross has a plan. He's made an even better version of his SanjigenJiten and launched an online campaign, swearing to learn 300 words in a foreign language to raise awareness of Technoglobe's blatant theft and prove his device really works! But does the SanjigenJiten really work? Can Andrew actually pull it off?! Play Influent and find out!!!

“By immersing the player in the target language, Influent closely models the way we naturally learn our native language. I suggest giving Influent a try.”
-Steve Hammond, Somnambulant-Gamer

Inspired by Dreamcast titles of old (namely Shenmue and Toy Commander) Influent immerses players in a fully interactive 3D environment where the names for absolutely every object in the game can be gleaned with a single click! In fact, even more information can be learned with a double-click! Every door, drawer, and cabinet can be opened with a right-click here and a right-click there, revealing more and more things to be learned! Packed to the brim with hundreds of native audio pronunciations (painstakingly recorded specifically for this game), Influent offers players a unique opportunity to enjoy learning both vocabulary and pronunciation in the language of their choice.

With 10 languages currently available for download, Influent combines the joys of playing a video game with the language learning process, resulting in real-life rewards and achievements that will remain with players for the rest of their lives.

If you're confused about how to purchase the game, please read the following example about Mark and Patricia.

If Mark wants to learn Latin, he should purchase the "Influent - Latina [Learn Latin]" store item. If his wife Patricia then wants to learn Swedish, Mark should then purchase the DLC store item entitled "Influent DLC - Svenska [Learn Swedish]." This can also be done from Patricia's perspective and will have the exact same result with Patricia purchasing the Swedish base game and then also buying the Latin DLC for Mark, herself, or even anyone else, to use on the same computer.

Do you have plans to release more languages? When???

New Language Packs will be released as they are completed. A full list of languages that are coming soon can be found on the Official Website.

After research funding ran out, further funding from a wildly successful Kickstarter Campaign allowed for the completion of the game. A research paper on the ideas surrounding the game and its applications was published by the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ), which can be viewed in its entirety here.

Before you buy this game, make sure you are buying it for the RIGHT reasons. This game is amazing, exactly the kind of learning style I love and was looking for.

BUT

If you are buying this game to learn how to speak fluently (For me, fluent Japanese) by solely relying on this game and nothing else, you will be very disappointed.

If you are buying this game as just one of the many tools to help you learn a language, and you consider yourself a visual learner, then this is perfect in my opinion.

Being able to click any object in the house and instantly be told what it is called, is the next best thing to having a native speaker with you while you point at things asking what they are called. As a huge plus with using the game, you see how it is written; in Romaji, Hiragana, or Kanji depending on what you pick if learning Japanese, which helps a lot more for me personally than just hearing audio alone. Oh and I highly recommend only using Kana instead of Romaji, you will be glad you did in the long run.

The time challenge mode turns the game into a scavenger hunt, making your brain work to remember what each thing is called. I feel that having to recall something, especially with a clock counting down, helps you memorize the words.

Alongside basic nouns from clicking on things in the environment, you can also unlock adjectives and verbs associated with each noun. I really like that because it adds context in a way; like clicking on the word "bed" has the verb "to sleep" available to learn.

So in the end, please use this game as a wonderful tool to master your language alongside your many other tried-and-true methods. I am certainly enjoying it and I feel I am memorizing the words much quicker than looking at definitions in a book. The audio is also very clear and easy to understand.

As for any negatives, I just have a few suggestions rather than anything actually negative. It would be nice if you could do the time challenge mode where objects light up and you have to type in what the object is called, or maybe choose from a multiple choice list. Right now it is just one direction, you hear the word and click the right object, never the other way around. Also if there was an option to have the speaker say the word again but slowly, to catch those quick syllables.

Weather you decide this game is for you or not, please go out there and learn a new language! Trust me, it feels amazing! :)

ATTENTION, NEED TO KNOW TIPS: When doing the time challenge, you have to DOUBLE click an object to select it as your answer. I don't think it tells you that, or I didn't notice. :) Double clicking outside of the game mode, will bring up a window with more details on that object/word you are clicking. Also, when you click on your vocab list, click a word, and there is a little "eye" icon you can click to see what the word is in your native language. I also HIGHLY recommend reading all the hints at the top left of the screen to get the most out of this game, it doesn't take long to read them all. Have fun all!

This game offers a lot of opportunities to expand your vocabulary through fun challenges. If you purchased a few languages, you must select which one you want to start with first; I started with Korean and will later pick up more. Once you select the language (Korean) for example, you have the choice to also select Hangul. Once the game starts you are in an apartment, with lots of household items and the learning begins.

As you move around (Limited interaction with the items) you can select items and learn the name in the language you purchased. There you can see the English translation, pronunciation, image, spelling, noun and verb versions of the word. Once you have found a few words you are comfortable with you can start adding them to your list, you can then play these challenges like "time attack" which test you in your ability to locate the items; either they are said to you, you read them without assistance of pronunciation of the software meanwhile you are being "tested" in speed/accuracy.

There is a lot more this game has to offer through these challenges and I recommend getting comfortable with a few set of words before adding more to your list. There is no rush and after each challenge you get a percentage but no penalization for failing. There is also a "To do list" which makes it easier for you to know what challenges you need to complete and they are not meant to be done in any particular order.

Overall I have played this game for only a few hours and am enjoying it. It is a relaxed, straightforward, fun way to learn a set of words in a new language. The price is good and the only thing I would want added is the chance to explore more areas (more locations) this would allow me to expand on my vocabulary besides household items.

Next Phase of Influent?An added software in conjunction with this one; Once we have the words learned take us to the next "Learning phase" Learning how to use them in a sentence, this would help us with the ability to actually use the words and have a conversation. The price is good for what this game offers. An added sweet bonus would be steam trading cards even though it is educational software.

Final thoughtsIt is not meant to teach you a whole new language but help you expand on your vocabulary. It does make the learning process of learning new vocabulary fun and I would recommend this game. Will be adding screenshots soon!

First off you must understand this is a vocabulary learning game and nothing more. If you dont have another form of learning the language this game is pretty much useless. I got this to brush up on french I had learned in high school. I paid $5 for it on sale and even at that price felt slightly disappointed. I had no idea you would be restricted to a one bedroom apartment with access to only learning 400 mundane names of household items. If this game was expanded to a small town type environment where you could go to say the store, a trainstation, etc. This game would be 5 stars, If a DLC was released with at least an equal number of new words in a new environment i would consider paying another $5 for it.

Everyday I wake up in this apartment trying to think of a way to escapse, but my hands never grab anything. They feel cold and lifeless. the only other thing living here in this eternal hell is the cat, but I think it's dead. Every time I try to talk it feels like my mouth can't open. Some days I spend just by looking at the door thinking someone will save me, but no one comes to my rescue. In the time that I don't try to escape I learn Korean, cause it's the only interaction I can get in this hell. 내 발은 아픈, 그리고 먹을 수 없습니다. 누군가가 저를 저장합니다. 8/10

You are locked in your apartment until you can recite every object in another language.

What's the [insert language] word for HELP!

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Essentially you walk around an apartment suite adding common household objects to your vocabulary inventory which serves as a sort of self-pacing mechanism. Find them all and you will learn how to say 420 words in another language, (284 nouns, 68 adjectives and 68 verbs,) all you have to do is retain them all.

If anthing this will most certainly serve to give you a basic understanding of pronounciation in a more interactive and engaging way than listening to someone repeating the same words on an audio cassette.

Do audio cassettes give you achievements for learning words in another language? No.Does this game teach you necessary fundamentals in another language? Not really.Will you learn how to say words like "lotion," "nuts" and "ceiling fan"? Absolutely!

Numerous items in this game can be highlighted separately despite not having own words associated to them (for example parts of a light switch), numerous words are pronounced weirdly, there are multiple speakers pronouncing them and at least one of them is really bad at the language, some German nouns chosen only fit poorly, and some are flat out wrong (flowers in their pots are surrounded by "garbage"...; "bottles" become "cans"), while the 'synonyms' listed leave much to be desired.A good few of the objects in the game are also extremely American, like extensive baseball equipment, or skateboards, and won't be seen in many of the countries whose languages the different DLCs aim to help with.Considering how long this has been on Steam without such things being rectified, I can't assume that any of the above will be fixed in further patches.

Before the "screen" becomes a "computer", I can't quite view this as jolly.

It gets downright infuriating in the time attack tests when it asks you for a "pen", and it actually wants the "pencil", while the "pen" is viewed as wrong (bonus: only the pencil can "write", the pen can't...), or when it wants a "lamp", and the "light" is seen as a fundamentally different creature.

Edit:By now, I've found dozens of wrongly pronounced words, as well as a bunch with wrongly assigned genders.

My first contact with Influend was weird. I was like "oh, another learning game, probably not interesting". though I tried it anyway and it turned out to be something better than "just a learning game". First of all - it is not boring. It even has a plot, you know. You are an independent inventor whose prototype machine named Senjun...dammit, the name of that prototype is too hard to write. So yeah, in order to prove it he wants to learn 300 words in one of the languages. You can buy the game with one language and then buy the rest of languages as cheaper DLCs - I like the idea.

Let's get to the real action. You are in your flat, filled with 420 (blaze it) things. Basically the goal is to walk around and interact with things to see their name. It's a good system in my opinion, since when you look at the thing you know what it is and you get the name in the other language. But not only that, you can also get synonyms and adjectives for some of those too (and in case of Japaneese - how the things I written. I felt good with romaji)! You can see that hard work was put into that, because there's also a native speaker saying the word out loud too! Anyway, after getting to know names of stuff int he room you can try Time Attack mode - it's all about "mastering the words" and choosing the right things. After you master 50 words - SURPRISE, YOU CAN FLY AROUND THE ROOM AND SHOOT STUFF WITH LAZERS! So it's not only learning after all.

Now, a few words about graphics - game doesn't look bad, I like its art style. It is kinda like in comics, so that's a plus. Some of the texutes are less detailed, but that's only things that you can do much with. And they're usually placed in some corners and places normal human doesn't usually visit (unless he's a nerdy RPG player that has to visit every corner).

Other stuff - you will probably spend more time looking at numerous references that are hidden withing the game. I really liked book on the table. Get the game (it's not that expensive, especially when you see the amount of content and educational value of it. Really, educational games can be damn good and this one is the example of it) and see it.

BUT - every rose has its thorns. It took me some time to get used to controls. You can switch in this game between TPP and FPP modes, but when in FPP zooming in has to be with mouse wheel instead of good ol' FPS right-click (it is assigned for different function). Apart from getting to know controls, rest is good. Even tutorial (you can skip it and get to know controls by yourself - not suggested).

To sum up, I loved that game since 10 minutes after launching it. And I actually learned that pillow in japaneese is "makura".And yeah, this thing is definitely worth getting.

Only useful for learning vocab. I know that this game makes it very clear that it will only teach you vocab words, but a lot of people bought it hoping for a good way to start learning a language. No software that exists, even comprehensive ones like rosetta stone, can't teach you a language quickly or thoroughly (no matter what the commercials say). This game utilizes visual and audio cues to increase your vocabulary pretty effectively, but don't bother with it unless you already have an understanding of the language or are currently taking a class.

excellent tool to help you learn other languages, i do feel this game would benefit having more places to go instead of just the house for example going to the shop and buying items but currently it's very good and worth the money :)

It's a excellent game for those looking to brush-up on their vocabulary. It is not, I repeat not for those looking to start learning a language. I am currently taking a course in french, and this has been helpful for working on my vocabulary.

Not a bad little program for adding some basic vocabulary. I have the Spanish version, which unfortunately only caters to European Spanish, complete with the infamous lisp. Though the little quiz feature encourages you remember the vocabulary, this game could do with some more interesting, practical excercises, what we language teachers call "Drilling". Overal not bad and not expensive, but don't expect this game to make you fluent; you will only learn basic nouns.

Let me start by saying that I picked this up for the German version. I've been learning German with Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, and German television shows for a few months, but wanted something that I could sit down and play when I want to change up my learning style.

This game should not be purchased if you want to learn grammar or phrases. In the German version you learn mostly vocabulary words (I say mostly because I still haven't found every word, and who knows... maybe there's something else out there).

Now, one of the most important things for learning words in a foreign language is having a memory to place with the word. A game like this provides this SIGNIFICANTLY better than a memory based card game. Why? Because you're remembering a word based on not only its graphic visualisation, but you're remembering it within the context of the home. In this game, if you have to find the "pfeffer", you not only have to remember the word for pepper, but WHERE the pepper is. It's helped me remember words extremely easily.

Don't buy this as your primary way to learn a language. Buy it as a way to help you build vocabulary alongside a few other language learning classes or programs. That's what I bought it for, and that's what it does best.

If duolingo ever releases bulgarian, I'll definitely be picking up another version of this game. I highly recommend it.

I walk around and learn some words here, then I go to duolingo and learn some stuff there. Makes a great pair with duolingo.

BEWARE: there seems to be no way to change the controls so if you're not a WASD user, you'll have to use the arrow keys.

Still, great way to learn basic everyday words and impress your grandma.

EDIT: Fromt he developer: how to change keybinds

>We have posted this information on our help page[playinfluent.com]>>"Controls can be customized by holding down the ‘SHIFT’ key on PC or the ‘OPTION’ key on Mac when the game is launched.">>This means hold down the button when you hit "PLAY" on steam it self. A config window will pop up, Input is the 2nd tab.

Influent is quite basic in nature with the simple objective of walking around a small 4 room apartment clicking on objects to learn their pronounciation in any given target language. Although it hosts this extremely simplistic goal it really does a sucessful job at drawing the players attention in and making them want to learn. It is notable that Influent isn't going to form you into some language speaking master capable of conversing in any language but it does provide a solid baseline in which you can form your grammatical understanding on top of. If anything, just for the purpose of learning 400+ words this game is a invaluable source for language learners in a somewhat beggining state.

I'd definitely recommend this game for people who want to expand their vocabulary, but there are a few things I'd like to point out.-While this is almost never required for romance languages, in Japanese, Chinese and Korean, words, Especially adjectives and verbs, can be synonymous but imply different things. This is almost always the case in Japanese, where verbs have transitive and intransitive forms, but this is not listed in the definition, only one form is presented. This means doing research on the word you'll find yourself using more will help you be more fluent in the long run.-So much katakana... I'd like to see really rare kanji forms of words, as they can appear in stories and some videogames (You know, like English games using the words, 'Thee', 'Thou', etc. They're rare because of their age, but they can still find a use in medieval style games!). In fact, I might prefer it that way as I want to learn as much words as possible and converting English to katakana is easy when you learn about how Japanese pronunciation works. Just add a note to say it's rare to avoid confusion.-Some objects are... Odd. I saw this red box and the definition said it was a piggy bank or something, I was confused until I saw a dial, which meant it was a safe. Maybe you should make objects cliched/stereotyped and exaggerated to help people understand with a quick glance.-It doesn't follow spaced repitition, so you can mash the replay button endlessly until you get yourself a star. If you're a serious learner, never press the replay button, as you just bring it back to your short term memory and fail to remember it the next few days, at least space the replays by an hour the *first* time you try it.-Lists make it too easy sometimes, avoid using them and just use the random button, as I found myself just clicking whatever's next to the last object I clicked on, as I was able to remember the next thing I added right after. This is a mnemonic that relies on the location of the object INGAME, so it doesn't really help you learn. If you really want to do lists, run around the whole house clicking random items and adding them to the list, avoiding any sort of order or pattern.

And here's some tips for Japanese:-Avoid Romaji, in fact, do kanji, when you don't know a word, you don't know it, there's no improving your ability to decipher meaning from kanji, so just dive right into it. Do kana if you're really keen on learning pronunciation before reading, and want to do it really, really quickly. Same thing probably applies with Pinyin and Hanzi, but I haven't played the Chinese version so I don't know if Pinyin is provided.-The dots that appear between kana when you look at how to read the kanji is important, memorise the kana in sections divided by the dots, and their associated kanji (e.g. (毎日 [まい＊にち] まい is 毎 and にち is 日)) This is important, words might have multiple readings, and you might get them wrong, but if you memorise at least ONE reading for the kanji, you can type it on a computer, and even get the correct reading by typing the kanji on a dictionary.-While katakana is easy when you know it well enough, sometimes it isn't, as you might say different versions of a word (E.g. Fairy Floss vs. Cotton Candy, (Well, it's neither when translated to Japanese, but you get my point!)) or it's just katakana but isn't based on English, (e.g. パン for bread). Either way, it's nice to learn a ton of katakana in this game as you get badges for it.

Other than that, it's good as you'll find objects in an every day home, and the exploration stops you from being bored quickly, and most importantly:It makes you think of (and therefore associate the word you're learning with) objects and pictures, rather than the English translation, which means that you can achieve fluency which allows you to form sentences in the language you want in your head directly, rather than creating an English sentence, translating it to your wanted language, THEN saying, writing or expressing it.

So I was robbing this dude's apartment and ended up learning a new language.

Seriously, though, this is a fun way to learn all those boring but essential words like bed, shelf, couch, etc. The game keeps you motivated with the To-Do List and the unlockables, as well as the Steam achievements.

Does it go beyond basic words? Yes! For pretty much every noun, you eventually unlock an adjective, adverb, verb, etc. that goes along with it, giving you context to use your new words in! Now you know how to call your television stupid or a book interesting. (Sentences are not given, though, just to clarify that.) More than one adjective is given to plenty of nouns, so there are more words to learn that you think at first. There's also fun with the treasure hunt element to it as far as some of the words/items go, like finding slippers under the bed.

While I would happily recommend this to a complete beginner, I've been learning Russian for about eight months and I still found this game to be incredibly useful. Each way of testing yourself comes with simple and useful options. Don't know the Cyrillic alphabet yet? You can choose for the Russian words to be in Latin characters/Romanized. (I am guessing this would ring true for other language options.) You can choose to be tested on the words with or without audio, with or without sound, and with or without your native language translation. (Having all enabled is the default, of course.)

Also, the voice is a pleasant female one, if that matters to you.

The option to test your vocabulary words being given only the audio and not the text has helped me a lot, so I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to improve their listening/recognition skills.

It also helps that for each test, there are repeat items in each room, so when you're doing kitchen vocabulary, you can click on the book in the kitchen without having to go into another room, and you don't need to walk over to the bathroom just so you can click on soap, since both also exist in the kitchen. So there is a lot of unnecessary moving around avoided.

I had to reconfigure the trackpad on my MacBook to be able to enable the right-click options (which are important, since they open doors, shelves and whatnot) but it was quite simple. The game also is very clever and you can click on things very easily, even if you're at a weird angle. You don't need to be close to click on things, which is nice when you want to click on the magnet in the other room.

Like other people said it's not something you'd use to learn the entire language. It doesn't go into grammar. But if there was a language-learning food pyramid, this could definitely be your хлеб.

A fun little way to learn a language. You play as an inventor trying to prove his language-learning device, and you spend your time wandering about his apartment, finding out the words for different objects and testing yourself on your retention. I could go in-depth about this, but this is basically an inexpensive learning aid, and it does its job very well. I'm currently using this to refresh and bolster my Chinese language skills, but I'll certainly be purchasing other languages as time goes on!